Blinking CEL, runs rough - for a friend

Buddy has a rig just like mine. 3.2L V6 4x2 auto with just over 100K. He bought it a couple of years ago on my recommendation (good price for a reliable SUV) and this is his first issue with it. He bought it with about 70K and I'd guess it has some old spark plugs.

Anyway, he was driving around town and stopped at a light when it began running rough and the CEL began blinking. He stopped at AutoZone and popped the hood to check the plugs. He couldn't find them! So he drove home and called me. I told him where to find the plugs. I'm thinking either the plugs need swapping or a coil pack went bad. I wish he had the guys at the parts store hook it up to a scanner to see if it was a single cylinder missing. I told him to pull the plugs and see if he can see which cylinder(s) is/are missing. I also told him about the oil in the plug tubes sometimes causing a miss. Hopefully he'll ask me to help him fix it this weekend when he has time.

Any advice? Anything I'm forgetting? He has done nothing with the truck since buying it except change the oil and put gas in it.

It would be easier if he had a code. Since he hasn't been keeping up with the usual maintenance now might be a good time to start. Heck it might help with resolving his issue. So he's in for tranny service, fuel filter, egr cleaning, radiator flush, air filter, and...well you know the rest.

But have him shoot over to the AZ and get the code.

If he lives close to you, I think you'll be busy helping him..lol

If I can get him to change more than the one fouled plug, I'll consider it a small miracle. He's a believer in the lifetime tranny fluid!

He's a believer in the lifetime tranny fluid!

On THIS tranny ????? :banghead: :banghead:

Oh boy, I don't see his truck taking care of HIM, since he's unwilling to take care of it. Too bad to, as he could easily get our kind of mileage and more.

It's neglectful owners like this that give car manufactorers a bad name. ... not aiming to rant on your neighbor though, just hate hearing of someone wanting a vehicle to run good/reliable, but not willing to give it the attention it obviously needs.

Here's the update/outcome:

I went over to his house to help him get the #6 plug. He needed a second 3" extension. He took out some Autolite single tip platinums and put in similar NGKs. He didn't take note of which plugs came from where, so I couldn't tell which cylinder the wet, black one came from. He started it up and it ran well for about 30 seconds, then started missing. We shut it off and I ran home to get my brand new OBDII Innova scanner ($125 at Sears on clearance which I bought today to solve my VWs MAF issue). Plugged in the scanner and 0300 came up. Great, I thought, now we'll have to pull the plugs again. "Should we start it up and run it to see if the cylinder will come up?" I ask. "Sure," he says. Bingo - it's #6. We ran over to Advance Auto to pick up their GP Sorenson version of the coil pack for $89. Take it out of the box and it's the same Hitachi coil pack we just pulled out. Runs like a dream again. The new scanner really paid off today!

It was funny to see what happened with that little dust boot on the throttle cable bracket. At first I thought he had taken it off and lubed the cable with some blue grease, but the rubber had melted and entirely coated the white exposed part of the throttle cable. I don't know how is cable never got stuck!

Good job. What about all the maintenance work? LOL

Ha! Let me just say I have never seen that much acid/corrosion on a battery in an engine bay.